3 Oct 2007 @ 15:56, by craiglang. Experiences
A fried of mine who teaches aeronautical technology, invited me to present a lecture on UFOs to her Aerospace/Aeronautical teacher's group. So last night, I presented my "UFO 101" lecture to their group. While I was expecting them to be at least somewhat skeptical, I found that the reception was positive, almost surprisingly so. I found that several in the group had had sightings, and at least one person had apparently experienced a close encounter.

My conclusion from this small data point is that the phenomenon reaches into nearly every corner of our society, bringing the contact experience to all walks of life. I also note that it is becoming increasingly accepted in areas of society where in an earlier time, it would have been rejected out of hand. Read More

6 Jul 2005 @ 16:48, by craiglang. Experiences
While very much of a personal trail, I offer this for the benefit of any others who may be on a similar path...
As many on NCN know, I have for years, been casting about trying to find what my career path should be. I often feel like a lost soul, wandering in the wilderness of life. And as a result, I have accumulated a rather interesting trail of tests such as Myers-Briggs, Strong-Campbell (now Strong Interest Inventory), and other similar exercises.

It has been interesting to note how the results have changed over the years. Yet none of it is a surprise, as such tests are really only telling you the same thing that you told them. However, it has been interesting to see the information laid out in a very straightforward snapshot - a "slice of life" in the present day. And it has been interesting to note the trail of results, showing my wanderings through life in recent years... Read More

10 Mar 2004 @ 21:56, by craiglang. Experiences
This evening, Gwyn and I attended a choir concert put on by the Jamestown College choir. This was a program of mideival through 19th century Russian-German religious music, presented at our church in Minneapolis. This choir has got to be one of the best I've heard in a long time. The music, sung both in German and in English, triggered the imagination and gave me somewhat of a feel of being a 19th century Russo-German.

The Russian-Germans were a protestant group of economic and religious refugee/settlers from Germany, who set up a series of religious settlements in Russia in the 19th century. They developed a very fertile musical heritage that carries through to this day. It was carried to the USA in the late 19th and early 20th century, and is prominent in the Dakotas and the Canadian plains provinces. Alas, the group that remained in Russia apparently ended up coming to grief during the Stalin era, when many of them perished. To read the blerb about their history in the program, and then listen to the music the choir sang, gave me an eerie, often sad sense of history.

It was very intersting to attend this concert, in the context of having attended the SF/Fantasy convention a few days before. In both, I got a sense of being in another place and time. It was a similar sense, even though the places and times were very much different. And yet, as I mentioned in the previous article, on the MarsCon SF Convo, at times there was a rennaisance fair flavor to some of it. So in that sense, the feeling was familiar, although nowhere near identical.

What this concert did show to me once again, was the hauntingly beautiful power that music can have to transport us to another place and time - be it past, present or future. Read More

13 Feb 2004 @ 11:16, by craiglang. Experiences
I posted this in the PSI room, but after thinking about it overnight, I thought that it might be interesting for general consumption.

The last week or so has been very interesting from the point of view of (unintended) mind-machine interactions. I have had a couple of instances where the computer locked up when I started using it (Yes, I know - it's Microsoft...). Both of these times were when I felt quite stressed and in a hurry. Read More

22 Dec 2003 @ 11:44, by craiglang. Experiences
Over the last few months, I have noticed the degree of polarity that has shown up in many spiritually-oriented groups. I have seen this on NCN, as well, and until recently, I did not really understand how it could come about. Then something happenned that showed me that the only way to truly understand something is to experience it yourself. And so I did...

A little background: Over the last year or so, I had been casting about trying to regain my career direction (as many readers of my newslog will note...:-). In the last few months, that direction has been reaffirmed. It is the development of healing technology, and bridging the gulf between the material and the spiritual. But one effect of this is that I have become much more involved in my day job, working in the development of medical technology.

Several experiences I have had in this arena have brought tears of joy to my eye. To see someone's quality of life improve to the point where life is again liveable. Where a previously unbearable pain-filled life is replaced by one in which the old joy has returned. I literally get a tear in my eye as I think about it.

And now I am again part of a team of deeply dedicated workers - engineers who live their work day in the world of healing technology. I don't think I have ever met a more dedicated group of people. And when I think of the mission we are involved in, somehow the fact that I sit in a "Dilbert" cube somewhere in Corporate CubeWorld seems to fade away. At this moment, this effort has meaning...

And then I saw a post a few days ago which was very critical of medical companies. Suddenly what little progress I had made on the road to enlightenment was eclipsed by anger and a general sense of orneriness. While I don't believe that the intent of the post was to criticize the intentions of myself or my coworkers, in some ways that is what it felt like. In many ways our work-team is very close, and so it was as if someone had dishonored my family. Up went the "home guard" defenses... :-)

So what does that tell me? It tells me that when something challenges that which we hold dear, there is a big danger that the gains of the new civilization can be erased in a moment. At the core of each of us is the primitive reptile, the territorial animal. Or, looking at it another way: along with our higher chakras, we all have a very active first chakra - the center of polarity and survival, agression and defense.

And so for just a moment, the warrior came out. I felt the shadow cast by the dark side - that chill wind which has so often carried us into war, and has been the casue of so much pain and struggle throughout history. The dark side lives within each of us - the other end of the teeter-totter, the counterweight to enlightenment.

We all disagree on many things, and this will always be true. And what this tells me is that there is a fine art to disagreement that one must learn in order to preserve the harmony of civilization. Disagreement needs to be a proactive, win-win process. In this dangerous time, such a process becomes increasingly important.

As we approach the Awakening, my sense is that we will see ever more turmoil, disagreement and polarity. I believe that the Awakening will only occur when we suddenly reach a critical mass of understanding, and can transcend the polarity - to see it for what it is, two views of the same question. And now, I have just a little bit more understanding of what this really means and just how important it really is... Read More

2 Dec 2003 @ 06:39, by craiglang. Experiences
Just wondering: has anyone else had a powerful sense of "warning" in the last day or so? I awoke this morning with a powerful sense of "something-wrong". It was the same feeling I had just before 9/11.